War on Drugs

When I was bicycling across the United States in the summer of 1990, my friend Paul and I each rode a mountain bike and carried a change of clothes, a toothbrush, and a sleeping bag. We shared a tent.

Anything to save weight.

Every ounce matters on a bicycle, because you propel it uphill using only muscles and lungs. I can say with absolute certainty there's a lot of hill climbing between sea level in Virginia, and Wolf Creek Pass, in Colorado. 10,823' in fact. Luxury items you might begin your trip with — for example, a lawn chair strapped to the back of your bike for "rest periods" — quickly find a new home in a roadside dumpster. Efforts to save weight might even include sawing the handle off your toothbrush.

Not that I witnessed such a scene.

When you travel with little (no) money, and only a tent for shelter, your options are limited every night, because every square inch of our country is owned by someone. Stretches between state and national parks leave only churches, businesses (including farms), or private homes. So we evolved the cheeky strategy of knocking on a stranger's door every night:

"Hi! I'm Rick, this is Paul, and we're riding our bikes across the country. Would you mind if we camped on your lawn and used your garden hose to refill our water bottles?"

Interestingly, in 3,409 miles of travel, the only times we were ever turned down were by churches.

One memorable evening lawn camping in Kansas was spent with "Dale" and his wife. Truly kind middle-aged folks who invited us in for homemade pie, coffee, and kitchen conversation. In the course of our discussion, we learned:

"Most farmers can't make it growing corn. Not even subsidies can get us to the break-even point. Not that I would do it of course (implied wink), but most farmers would lose their land if they didn't grow marijuana between the rows of corn. Marijuana is the number one cash crop here in the midwest."

The United States of America is fighting a whole bunch of wars at the moment:

"War on Terror"
"War Against Illegal Immigrants"
"War to Confiscate Civil Liberties"
"War on Drugs"

Sounds expensive and violent, and it probably is, but today we're just thinking about drugs. Or...are they...interrelated? Just a few thoughts for your peace pipe:

1. Alcohol prohibition failed. As do most attempts to legislate morality. Why would drug prohibition succeed?

2. Meth evolved as a moonshine response to scarcity.

3. "War on Drugs" is really really really expensive.

4. Urban populations are disproportionately punished.

5. There is evolutionary evidence for intoxication.

6. Illegal drug sales finance terrorism.

A. If we legalized and taxed drugs, would the profit incentive for organized crime vanish?

B. Without drug crime, would our urban socio-economics change?

C. Would addicts seek safer alternatives, and begin to get the help they need?